Shkil, Maksim D.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2023. IIS 48 (87).

Abstract:
The problem of the relationship between secular power and the Church is an important phenomenon
in the understanding of the Middle Ages and separately the history of the Transcaucasus. The article
examines the vita of the Grigol of Xandzta (759–861) in terms of the relationship between the Church and
secular power. It is important to find out, how Giorgi Merčule, the author of the vita, saw the relations
between secular rulers and clergy, what role he attributes to secular power and clergy, and how the spheres
of spiritual and secular power are divided in the vita. The author of the vita structured the narrative
to show the sinfulness and blindness of secular authority to the divine will. In essence, the relationship
between the secular authorities and the Church is based on the distribution of material goods. The more
good is distributed to the clergy, the stronger will be the relationship between heavenly and earthly cities,
because only “spiritually strong men” are guided by God’s will and do not retreat from it for the sake of
worldly desires, as secular rulers constantly do. According to Giorgi Merčule, secular rulers should deal
with internal affairs and promote the exaltation of the Church as an institution that directly follows the
divine will. All power should be concentrated in it as the institution whose actions are directed by God
himself. It is not by chance that Tao‑Klarjeti, at the peak of Grigol of Xandzta’s life, is called a “monastic
republic”, that is to say a theocracy (at least in the pages of his hagiography) in which spiritual power
dominates over secular. The latter submits to it and distributes material goods in its favour in order to
gain eternal life.

Keywords: History of the Transcaucasus, Church, secular power, Giorgi Merčule, Grigol of Xandzta, Middle Ages.

Download the full text  

+ References